Ex-interior minister Roño, 79

Former interior minister and Samar governor Jose "Peping" Roño died early Friday due to pneumonia. He was 79.

Roño was born Mar. 19, 1923 in Calbayog, Samar and studied law at the University of Sto. Tomas where he graduated magna cum laude in 1948. He passed the Bar in 1949 with an average of 90 percent.

He served a brief stint in a Manila law office in the same year before he was named mayor of Calbayog City at the age of 23. He would eventually serve in the mayoral post for a total of 14 years.

He resigned as Calbayog mayor in 1950 and went into private legal practice but was soon re-appointed as Calbayog mayor in 1953 until 1959. He was re-elected in 1963 and served until 1967.

In 1967, he ran for governor of Samar and was overwhelmingly elected, garnering the biggest gubernatorial majority in the province’s history.

He was subsequently appointed by the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos as secretary of local government in 1972, a position he held until 1986.

Roño was also elected to the Interim Batasang Pambansa for Eastern Visayas in 1978 and was later re-elected Samar assemblyman in 1984. He was elected IBP majority floor leader in 1978 and was re-elected to the position in 1984.

In 1980, he was elected executive committee member of the International Parliamentary Union, an association of the legislative bodies of the whole world. He holds the distinction as the first Asian and only Filipino to have been elected officer of the IPU.

In 1981, he was elected deputy prime minister, a position he held until 1986.

After 1986, he ran and won as congressman for the first district of Samar and served two terms. He was then elected as Samar governor in 1995 and served until 2001.

Roño is survived by his wife Carol Sarmiento, his children Chito, Mait and Peevee, Marisa and Glenn, Gigi and Jim, Dolly and Ling, Rany and Patricia.

His remains lie at the Santiario de San Antonio in Forbes Park, Makati City. Interment will be announced later.